Having Manning this year after all the disappointing seasons preceding his arrival has really brought home the value of an elite QB. Of course it has always been the most important position but in todays game I don't think you can win a championship without one.

I don't think there will be a Trent Dilfer type QB winning the super bowl ever again.

Tebow is probably my favorite player in the league... But definitely below average as a QB. Hope he doesn't remain stubborn and decides one day that he can have a long productive career at a different position.

He was below average. As a running QB he was above average. Depends on how you look at it, I guess.

I would argue that the 8-8 record was a huge overachievement for that team as well. How many miraculous finishes did we have that required an onside recovery, a running back running out of bounds when all he needed to do was stay in bounds to run out the clock, etc. to get to that record?

Last year's team was a mirage like the 2008 team that had a negative point differential, neither team was truly an 8-8 team, they just got lucky.

This team without Manning could easily be a sub-500 team depending on who ended up at QB. The defense wouldn't have as many chances to tee-off and rush the QB (affecting both sacks and turnovers) and the offense clearly wouldn't be as good.

With how turnovers have worked this season, we have been UNlucky this year (which seems to have turned around somewhat) and still sit at 12-3 with a shot at the #1 seed.

I was responding to the idea that since we were 8-8 last year with Tebow, that was the bar and we are maybe +5 wins from that team.

I think that last year was a huge, miraculous fluke and that the team was more realistically a 5-win or less team had they not had everything bounce their way at the end of their wins. So the idea that Manning only improved this team from 8 to 12-13 wins is somewhat inaccurate.

This is also the argument that I feel makes Manning more valuable to the Broncos than AP to the vikings.

Passing attempts: Drew Bledsoe owned the single season record of 691, set in 1994. Matt Stafford passed him up on Sunday and ended up with 727 passing attempts and now owns the single season record.

Steven Jackson went over 10,000 career rushing yards a few weeks back. Jackson ended up with 1,042 yards rushing, giving him 8 straight seasons with over 1,000 yards rushing.

Adrian Peterson broke the 2,000 yard barrier and ended up with 2,097 yards rushing, falling 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson's single season rushing record.

Calvin Johnson (122), Brandon Marshall (118), and Wes Welker (118) had a chance to finish the season with 2nd most receptions in a single season. Marvin Harrison's all time record of 143 receptions, set in 2002, is still intact, as is the 2nd spot, of 123 receptions, set by Herman Moore in 1995 and Wes Welker in 2009.

Speaking of Wes Welker, he had 118 receptions on the season, his 5th season of 100+ receptions, which is a new NFL record.

Calvin Johnson finished the season with 1,964 receiving yards on the season and passed Jerry Rice's single season mark of 1,848 yards, set in 1995. Calvin Johnson missed being the first WR to break 2,000 receiving yards in a single season by 36 yards.

Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker both ended up with 1,000+ receiving yard seasons with 10+ TDs. Denver had never had 2 receivers notch 1,000+ yards receiving and 10+ TDs in the same season. DMT finished up with 94 receptions for 1,434 yards yards and 10 TDs. Eric Decker finished up with 85 receptions for 1,064 yards and 13 TDs.

Peyton Manning finished the season with these stats: 400/583 (68.6%) for 4,659 yards with 37 TDs and 11 INTs.

Peyton Manning broke the single season team records for all the major passing categories except passing attempts. Jay Cutler still owns that record with 616 passing attempts in 2008.

All purpose yards: Darren Sproles set the record with 2,696 all purpose yards in 2011. Randall Cobb had 2,342 all purpose yards with 1 game left to play. Cobb was injured and missed Green Bay's last game, so Sproles will keep the record.

The single season sack mark of 22.5 was set by Michael Strahan in 2001. 3 players had a chance to reach that mark. J.J. Watt finished the season with 20.5 sacks, Aldon Smith finished the season with 19.5 sacks, and Von Miller finished the season with 18.5 sacks, which broke the single season franchise record of 17.0 sacks, set by Elvis Dumervil in 2009.

The punting yards record in a season was broken this season. The record of 4,968 yards was set by Andy Lee in 2007. Dave Zastudil broke the record with 5,209 punting yards this season. Dave Zastudil also broke the single season punting record for most punts downed inside the 20 yard line with 46 punts.

The forced fumbles in a season mark was tied, but not broken. Keep in mind, the record hasn't been closely tracked until the last 12 or so seasons, so I'm sure one of the old timers has topped this mark. Osi Umenyiora held the record of 10 forced fumbles in 2010, but Charles Tillman forced fumbles this season to tie the record.

Tebow is probably my favorite player in the league... But definitely below average as a QB. Hope he doesn't remain stubborn and decides one day that he can have a long productive career at a different position.